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An online journal about visual art, the urban landscape and design. Mary Louise Schumacher, the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic, leads the discussion and a community of writers contribute to the dialogue.

Bad, maudlin public art in the works

For artist Tom Queoff and Chris Hastings of the Irish Heritage & Cultural Center, the hand emerging from the surging waves is a touching reminder of those who died and survived when the Lady Elgin excursion steamer went down in Lake Michigan nearly 150 years ago.

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Yet someone else might say it looks like it was pushed off a parade float. Too bad Fonzie is already hitting Rock Bottom.

The Disney-fication of what was a horrendous tragedy would be hilarious if it weren't so uncreative, cliché, shallow, cheap, over-simplified, disrespectful, uninteresting, inappropriate, overly melodramatic, etc., etc.. But what do I know? When it comes to art there's no such thing as expertise, education, experience, criticism, insight, aesthetics, history; one slob's Rembrandt is another slob's Hummel.

Now, isn't art just about the cutest most wonderfullest thing? Interpret that anyway you want, of course.

My understanding of a public curator (art czar if you MUST) would not be a dictator, but the antithesis of a narrow point of view controlling a project. This person would have broad experience in the arts, culture and politics and would make sure all the voices are heard; and the maybe some responsibility to persuade and argue for certain qualities of a project. If there is a glaring fact about the proposed Lady Elgin memorial, it appears it was proposed with input from only a few. A public person responsible for the process would bring in anyone interested -- like you and me, beforehand.

The biggest problems with installation in this city is their placement without regard to context. This thing looks like it fell of a highschool football teams homecoming float... The Bradley Tech "Drowning Zeus's".

An Arts Czar's job would be to make sure installations are well integrated into their context, meet the standards/expectations of all interested parties, and are commissioned only to artists that have the potential for greatness.

The Disuervo is a great example. It is a wonderful work, but people are unhappy with it's placement. There are other places in the city where it could be moved to satisfy more people and it should be done. The park East corridor could be enlivened with a piece of public art. We have a great piece of work that is sitting somewhere where it is making people unhappy. It should be moved to somewhere that it can give more people satisfaction.

The arts Czar would be kind of like an interior designer. Our city is currently decorated as if some frumpy housewife has placed little tchotschkes haphazardly here and there. Installations should be well composed and balanced to assure that any adornments to our city are tasteful and well situated to enhance the sense of place.

Milwaukee is not some high-brow metropolitan center, it would be pretentious to deny our heritage. We do have to accomodate the occasional kitsch tchotschke, but we can't settle for this type of ersatz monumentalism.

Well, now that would be a deal! I'll readily admit Lipski has gone lite in his later years, but the cast pile of balls is so much richer, funny, quirky, real than the overblown and operatic wet hand shake. Not quite as obvious as his "Rodin-Rodannadanna",, which in name alone has got some goodness, and quite a long way from his elegantly poetic Sirshana- http://www.4culture.org/publicart/registry/sites/sites_profile.asp?ProjectID=lipski06 - but I'd absolutely vote for the trade any day. Lipski manages to critique machismo sport statuary and wryly pay homage to the endless supply of heroic moments with this, um, totem to the sweat of practice, practice, practice. I wonder how much the sport of hating the tall pile has driven local male bonding to increase? Takes a lot of balls to make art like that. Genius, pure genius.

Thanks for getting a really important discussion going on a very important subject in our community. The key question I hear coming out of this is: What exactly is a public art administrator? It is not, as Vicki fears, a public art dictator. Even if take to the extreme, that's a reasonable fear. In any case, I have my own ideas, which I'll share more of. But I wanted to let all of you know that I've requested some feedback from some expert sources on this subject and will hare their responses as soon as I get my mits on them. If anyone else has some research or knowledge in this area, please let us all know. More soon...

Readers who would like to understand more about Milwaukee’s hospitality toward projects like the proposed Lady Elgin Memorial might enjoy new scholarship by Erika Doss called “Memorial Mania.” An article is accessible through the American Association of Museums website http://www.aam-us.org/pubs/mn/memorialmania.cfm. Or, if you have 76 minutes to devote to the effort, you can watch a lecture by Doss on YouTube’s UChannel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbZCzim8Os4&feature=user. Doss’s research shows that the Lady Elgin Memorial is not some weird, unfortunate thing that only, always happens in Milwaukee—this episode in our local culture is expressive of larger currents in American psychology, power, politics, and, most importantly, IMHO, economics.

Mary Louise, Mike Brenner, and many others think that a professional curator, administrator or “art czar” will save them from the “bad, maudlin” and otherwise objectionable public art that they claim repels people like them from Milwaukee, but I am dubious. Every major city in the U.S. is now working to install public art works that some people will love and some people will hate. Members of the “creative class,” like most workers, go and stay where there are good jobs and opportunities for advancement. (For the latest by creative class czar Richard Florida, check out his YouTube lecture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khQ9BaXZAjM.) The Lipski example cited in the comments here is apt—Madison has capable artists, curators, and administrators working in the public art field, but many people still dislike the phallic stack of footballs. Madison’s unemployment rate as of April 1, 2008 was 3.9% and Milwaukee’s was 6.1%. Yes, spending money on bad public art is a problem, but how this happens (and keeps happening) is not a mystery. Let’s connect the dots.

Jennifer, thanks for bring your expertise to our discussion and responding to my request to weigh in here.

I have not yet looked at Doss' research or YouTube video -- though I will.

I am not sure that anyone is suggesting that Milwaukee is the only city that is grappling with issues related to public art selection methodologies, or, for that matter, that we should expect everyone to somehow embrace all public art.

Speaking for myself, what I am suggesting is that we consider putting a professional in place who can bring some expertise to bear regarding process.

There is a proposal to create a memorial to the sinking of the lady Elgin to be installed near Erie and Water street where there is presently an historical marker to the disaster.

Because the Lady Elgin was chartered by an Irish Militia group that was ordered to disband, but sought to arm themselves independently in Chicago, and because this militia actively supported Slavery in the United States, and actively hunted escaped slaves for bounty under the Fugitive slave law, and because there is good evidence this militia traveled to Chicago to support Senator Douglass, a supporter of Slavery whom President Lincoln rose to prominence by debating slavery, I believe to memorialize the disaster inherently memorializes the purpose of the Lady Elgin’s final passage: to support slavery and oppression in this dark chapter of American history.

At the time of the sinking, many believed that the ramming of the lady Elgin was intentional. Many blamed the Abolitionist Governor who was an opponent of the militia, many blamed Masons, many blamed Abolitionists. The story was covered by the New York Times, and many were outraged when the crew and captain of the Augusta that rammed the lady Elgin received only minor reprimands.

the Governors order for the Militia to disband reflects Wisconsin's Nobel history of abolitionism and participation on the Underground railroad.

Even though the US Parks commission has officially sanctioned Cathedral Square as an official stop on the Underground railroad, no memorial is there to commemorate this history of our city for the ages. To memorialize a Proslavery event of our city's history, I believe eclipses our abolitionist history that is so far, completely neglected.

Those commissioning the memorial to the sinking of the lady Elgin seem to know of the history and politics intimately associated with the final voyage as their web site has this statement:

It also seems to be known by those seeking to commission the work as the website claims this statement to claim the memorial promotes Irish heritage:

"The Lady Elgin tragedy itself as well as the political events that set it on its course can give us valuable insights into Wisconsin's inspiring and surprising past, but only if we take the important steps necessary to reclaim this lost history. The Lady Elgin Committee plans to build a moment that will help Milwaukee reclaim this significant part of our heritage...."

The lady Elgin incident does not reflect Irish Heritage as many Irish in America were strong abolitionists, inspired by the Irish oppression by the British....Many Irish workers believed that slavery forced lower wages for free blacks which in turn forced lower wages for the Irish ("Irish Need Not Apply" signs gave way to wage policies that were sub-par for mainstream society, but the Irish were told "your being paid more than a black man"….Many Slaves in the south were excellent artisans….Many Irish believed if slaves were freed and paid fair wages, so would they. Many Irish believed slavery oppressed them too.

I have written out my case that the theme of the sinking of the lady Elgin should be changed to a memorial for all shipwreck victims on the great lakes, and could include an appropriate historical marker. I believe such is appropriate for a public space, and can be reconsidered without too much impact to the artist, the art, and its supporters.

I have posted my case at this link

http://paul.peck.googlepages.com/sinktheladyelgin

I ask Milwaukee’s artist community to consider my case, and draw conclusions as a community.

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